Inouye’s support could mean little for candidates

Hawaii senior U.S. Sen. Daniel Ino­uye hit town this week like a political Johnny Appleseed, planting seeds of approval for candidates he favors in the 2012 election.

For the seat of his retiring fellow Sen. Daniel Akaka, Ino­uye reiterated his support of Mazie Hirono over Ed Case in the Demo­cratic primary.

In addition to his own weight, Ino­uye said he’s persuaded the Demo­cratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to throw its considerable resources behind Hirono in the primary instead of waiting to support the winner in the general election against Republican Linda Lingle.

Without much to say about Hirono’s assets, Ino­uye mostly continued to express a vendetta against Case for "hoodwinking" him six years ago by running against Akaka without Ino­uye’s blessing.

This is a political repeat of 2010, when Ino­uye came down heavy for Colleen Hana­busa against Case for the 1st Congressional District seat vacated by Gov. Neil Abercrombie.

In that instance, Case ended up dropping out — in large part because of his inability to raise money from donors leery of getting on Ino­uye’s bad side. Case is again trailing badly in fundraising against Hirono, but insists he’ll have enough to make it to the finish line.

If Case somehow manages to win, things could get uncomfortable for Ino­uye in the general election, when Lingle would use the bad-mouthing of Case by Ino­uye and the DSCC against the Demo­crats.

The outcome is critical to Ino­uye; if Lingle prevails and helps Republicans regain control of the Senate, Ino­uye would lose his coveted title of president pro tempore and his chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee.

Inouye also sprinkled seeds of support in the Hono­lulu mayor’s race, saying he’ll back either Mayor Peter Carlisle or former acting Mayor Kirk Caldwell against the anti-rail campaign of former Gov. Ben Caye­tano.

This is little surprise; Oahu rail has been Ino­uye’s pet project, and he could hardly be expected to support any anti-rail candidate.

But Cayetano is one of the few local political figures with the standing and the chops to get up in Ino­uye’s face, and if the senator wants to inject himself into the campaign, Caye­tano will happily invite him to bring it on.

"He sees nothing wrong with the city awarding multimillion-dollar rail contracts and starting construction even though there is no full funding agreement or congressional approval for the $1.5 billion federal grant," Caye­tano said. "Not only is such conduct irresponsible, but it is high-stakes gambling with the public’s money."

It would be silly to suggest it hurts a candidate to have Ino­uye’s support, but the jury is out on whether his blessing does much good.

In 2010 he batted only .333 in supporting Hana­busa over Case, Mufi Hannemann over Abercrombie and Caldwell over Carlisle.

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Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.